


Tax for heroism

by jajafilm



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Roommates, School, Secret Identity, Spy - Freeform, Superheroes, University, hero - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:29:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24644101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jajafilm/pseuds/jajafilm
Summary: Two heroes. One takes saving the world as his duty, the other never wanted to be a hero.Peter Parker has successfully graduated from high school, managed to purge and deny his alter ego Spider-Man, and after all that, he is accepted to Empire State University. He is looking forward and at the same time he is nervous about the new environment, experience and roommate. His roommate supposed to be Harry Osborn, the son of a famous businessman. But when he comes to peace, everything is different. Young Osborn is packing a suitcase and instead him, Peter will get some Alex Pleasur as his roommate.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 79





	1. Expectation

# Expectation

Peter was excited and nervous at the same time: new school, beginning, classmates, challenges, studies and opportunities. It was as if small flames danced in his body as he walked through the Empire State University campus, pulling a suitcase behind him. The dormitory building was at the very end. It was a brick skyscraper with a black door, above which was in white marble the inscription "Lipton Hall".

The first thing he saw after entering was a large welcome hall with turnstiles. Fortunately, he had done all the paperwork and payments in advance, so now he had his student ID in his pocket, he even knew the dorm room number and the name of his roommate: Harry Osborn, the son of a famous businessman. What will he be like? Peter hoped that, Harry will be likeable and they become friends.

He pushed through the counter and missed the front desk, where blond man with hardly identifiable accent argued. Peter stopped. Right next to it was a board listing all the rooms. According to the board, his room was on the top floor. He smiled, that would be useful for Spidey. But now he couldn't climb up the wall like a spider, so he went toward the elevator. When he finally stood at the door of his future room and knocked, there was a distracted call from the room: “Well, what?!” So Harry was already there. Peter came in and pulled his suitcase to the bed. Then he straightened up with the intention of introducing himself to his roommate.

“Hi, I'm Peter Par –“ he began, but didn't even finish his last name when he noticed that the young man in front of him had an open suitcase, but instead of unpacking, he was doing the exact opposite.

“Eh, what?” Harry stopped and looked at the newcomer. There was confusion on his face first, then his face brightened. “Oh, you must be the new guy. Hello,” he said, patted on the Peter’s shoulder in a friendly way.

“Are you packing?”

“Yeah, dad finally got me an apartment a few blocks from here, so I don't have to be in this stinking hole,” Harry nodded, ruffling his auburn hair.

Peter looked around. The room didn't seem so awful. The furniture in it looked quite new, not undamaged, the bedroom was shared with two beds and desks, but they had their own bathroom and toilet, nowhere seemed to be flowing or there was another serious deficit. That wasn't bad for college room. However, this didn't suit young Osborn, a boy with designer clothes and a gold watch. However, this didn't enough for young Osborn, a boy with designer clothes and a gold watch.

Harry closed his suitcase and grinned sarcastically. “Sorry, man, but maybe I'll see you at a lecture. Don't worry, they'll give you another roommate, or better yet, you'll be alone in the room,” he laughed and disappeared with the word: "goodbye."

Peter collapsed on one of the beds. Well, that's not exactly the beginning, which he imagined.


	2. Mistrust

# Mistrust

Although the brief meeting with Harry was not particularly pleasing in the end for Peter, nor it didn't tune him into a "new successful start in college", Osborn junior was right about something. Being alone in the room definitely had several benefits. First, he didn't have to sneak in front of anyone in Spider-Man's costume, no one disturbed him while learning, and no one blocked his bathroom. However, he could enjoy this freedom for almost a week.

He was working on his Organic Chemistry Exercise assignment, when his spider's instinct suddenly sounded to alarm. The door opened, and then his new roommate came in and pulled his suitcase behind him, just like himself a few days ago.

“Hello. I'm sorry I rushed in like this, but my last room didn't have heating, so I was assigned here. They said that you have a vacancy here,” he explained, holding out his hand to Peter. “Alex Pleasure,” introduced himself. Peter squeezed his hand, but he couldn't help himself to not frowning. His instinct still didn't calm down, despite that there was obviously no danger. That it would be because of Alex? But Alex seemed a completely normal student. Even his appearance was less pronounced than Herry's.

Alex was blonde and probably the same age as Peter. He had dark, serious auburn eyes and an athlete figure. However, he was dressed in plain jeans, a pulled-out T-shirt, and sneakers that made a sloppy impression. He looked like every other, and although Peter knew full well that the first impression could often be completely misleading, it seemed unlikely that his new roommate would be dangerous in any way.

“Peter Parker,” he said, closing his eyes to calm himself.

“Yeah, so I live with Spider-Man,” Alex said and smiled friendly at him.

“No, I'm not him. That was just a nasty slander,” Peter responded immediately. It took him so long to clear his name from the Mysterio's revelation, and now he didn't want to give up.

Alex measured him with a look, which Peter didn't like, but then he simply shrugged and said: “Well, when you say that…” and began to unpack.


	3. (No) normality

# (No) normality

Peter hypnotized the blackboard with the menu in the school canteen, but his mind was in his room, figuring out how to sneak around Alex for Spidy's patrol in the evening. It had been a month since he had a new roommate, and he hadn't been able to go on a superhero patrol. Pleasure was an early bird and in the evening he needed to do things for school. He had much less time than when he was in high school. Maybe he could just take for lecture his bag with Spider-Man's suit and after lection he wouldn't just go to his room right away, but aerate his nets. Just instead of doing patrol in the morning and evening, he will start doing it in the afternoon.

“Hmmm, I think I'll have the pea porridge this time,” said Alex, who was standing next to Peter, and also looking at the menu.

“What!? You really want to have those green cyanobacteria!?” Peter grinned at him.

“Well, not everyone can eat a two-inch-thick steak with French fries for everyday,” the blond shrugged with an equally wide grin and a gentle poke into Peter's ribs.

“Auuu,” Peter groaned, though it didn't make it as uncomfortable thanks his abilities as it do for anyone. “Has anyone ever told you that you are too attentive for your own good?” Exactly, because of his abilities he needed a richer diet and it seemed that unlike the others, Alex didn't have a tendency to ignore such trifles. Another fact why it was almost impossible to sneak around him like a Spider-man.

“Of course. It's my special talent,” Alex laughed. _And not the only one_ , Peter thought. Now he knew why his roommate had such an athletic figure - thanks to karate. They also didn't have lesson Spanish together, because Pleasure already spoke it fluently, as did the other four languages.

They ordered food, paid for it, and then headed for a free table next to the window. Before they settled down, Alex stealthily looked around and checked what was happening both outside the building and inside the dining room. He always chooses the place near escape, as if expecting an attack at any moment. Peter noticed his habit, but didn't comment it. It occurred to him that, he shouldn't judge his friend because of some strange habits. As if he himself were a model of normalcy when he considered it normal to climb walls…


	4. PTSD

# PTSD

_“_ _Hey, Mr. Stark, can you hear me, this is Peter?” it escaped his throat as he knelt beside him. Tony looked at him with empty eyes. His right hand, part of his chest and face were disfigured. The metal from the Iron-man's suit was baked to his body. The stones were destroyed, Thanos and the army turned to ashes._ “Hey... we won,” the boy said, but his mentor could barely hear him. “Mr. Stark. We won, Mr.…” he repeated again, but in his voice was bitterness, crying. They won because his hero sacrificed himself. His throat _gripped, his eyes burned, he felt like he his body was in fire and cold at the same time. **No, no, no… no!** __He screamed desperately in his mind._ _The blue light in Tony's chest flickered and then went out for forever._

_He felt Mrs. Stark take him by the shoulder. He looked at her through teary eyes._ Her blond hair was splayed in all directions, her face scratched and dirty. She gave him a kind but sad smile. “It's your fault.”

_“What, what did you say?” Peter at first was unable to understand what she said._

_“It's your fault,” she repeated calmly. Her words seemed to Peter as if Clint had shot him in the heart with an arrow. She was right; it was to be him, who snapped his finger. He should have been better if he had been like Tony had always wanted, maybe he would still be alive. Maybe Pepper wouldn't lose her husband, maybe Morgan wouldn't lose her father, and maybe the world wouldn't lose a genius inventor and Iron-man._

_“I know,” he whispered._ But as soon as he said that, he felt the ground beneath him begin to crumble. He began to sink somewhere into the black depths. He tried to catch by cobwebs, but he had just run out refill to web-shooters. He shouted desperately.

_***_

He woke up sweaty with his heart beating the race. It took him a moment to calm down, realizing where he was and that he wasn't the one screaming. He wasn't obviously the only one bothered by nightmares. Alex writhed on the next bed with a terrible moan. Peter shook his head, but finally got up and walked slowly to his roommate.

“Hey, man, wake up. It's just a dream,” he said, carefully grabbing Pleasure by the shoulder to shake him and wake him.

The effect was immediate. Alex winced and he tried to hit him by one punch from karate. Not having a spider's agility, Peter was sure, that Alex would hit him.


	5. Losses

#  Losses

They sat in silence in the blue moon light that penetrate through window to their room before Alex calmed down and realized where he was.

“Sorry me, did I wake you?” he said it as if to ask, but in essence it was more of a statement.

However, Peter shook his head energetically. “No, no. That's fine, I was awake before. I also had a nightmare.”

“Ah,” said the blond.

Then there was another few minutes of unpleasant silence. Despite the fact that the whole scene was unpleasant or even embarrassing, none of them was obviously in the mood to try sleep again.

“I've found that sometimes, when I can't sleep or I have bad dreams, it helps to confide,” Pleasure broke silence. His roommate bit his lip nervously. He didn't want to confide to Alex about what his nightmare was about. It had too much to do with his secret Spider-man identity, but Alex continued without noticing his reaction. “I dreamed of my housekeeper Jack's death. She was like an older sister to me. She took care of me after the death of my uncle and parents.”

“I thought Mr. and Mrs. Pleasure still alive. I recently read a great Mr. Pleasure's article in newspaper about the nanofiber technology being developed at Oscorp,” Peter interrupted.

“My name wasn't always Pleasure. I'm adopted. I took their surname; the old one had lot of pain in it,” he explained, and in his words Parker's extraordinary spider's hearing noticed the unidentifiable accent that his friend from time to time had. Peter thought it was from the few languages Alex spoke, but now it occurred to him that he might not be a native speaker at all. “She tried to protect me and paid for it with her life,” he said and he mixed bitterness with sadness in his words. “What seemed to you?”

Parker hesitated at first, taking a moment to reconsider his answer so as not to reveal his secret identity. In the end, however, he came to the conclusion that the best lies were, in essence, half-truths, and also that he just needed to tell it somebody. “I had nightmare about Mr. Stark's death.”

“I thought you said you weren't Spider-man,” his roommate grinned.

“I'm not, but I was Stark's intern. I knew him personally; he was like my mentor and father, who I had never known. Sometimes I think that if I was better, maybe it everything was completely different,” brunet admitted, then put his head in his hands.

But Alex disagreed with Peter's self-blame: “That's stupid. What options could you have then? What could you do? Add a gamma shield to his suit? How old were you then? Thirteen? The fact that you were his intern and you could work in to his technology just shows how much you are genius… but I doubt very much that you can see into the future. I don't have such an overview of what specifically happened. I only know what got into the media, but I guess someone probably had to sacrifice.”

“Maybe not. There is always another option,” Peter said.

“I doubt it. In that fight, a number of superheroes were strong with supernatural abilities, and none of them could stop it and save him,” the blond remarked, and his friend looked at him in surprise. “Being a hero has a price, and I dare say that Stark didn't even pay the most valuable thing. After all, he finally succeeded in his efforts. He died, but he protected the lives of his loved ones.”


	6. Dissimulation

#  **Dissimulation**

Halloween, October 31, the only day of the year in which everyone, not just superheroes and villains, puts a mask on their faces. Peter has always loved this holiday. He loved caroling and all the candy he got from it. Which kid doesn't like sweet? But it wasn't just about filling belly. He also loved the dark, mysterious atmosphere. Everyone could be who they want to be for at least one day. Or was it exactly the opposite? Was it a day when people stopped pretending and showed the world their true face, the one they wore in their hearts?

Peter was hovering over the streets. Another day, another superhero patrol. A superhero can't take a holidays, even though he is already looking forward to a party with his girlfriend and best friend. _One more block, and then he descended in the side alley of the mine, he ceased to be Spider-Man, but only a man in a spider-hero costume,_ he told himself, but in the end he didn't get to it. However, the side alley was not empty, it giving him the sight of Donald Duck with Mickey Mouse, Aladdin and a car full of weapons, money, and bags of suspicious white powder.

“It's probably not sugar and water pistols for caroling, is it?” Peter deliberately drew attention to himself as he clung to the nearest wall of the house, and Disney's heroes turned to him in fright with a chorus curse.

Spider-Man wasted no time and firing one of his cobwebs at the trunk to close it. The weapons in the trunk were obviously not the only ones that the cartoon characters had. Aladdin immediately pulled out a Glock 43, which was evidently hidden in a holster on his ankle, while Donald Duck ran to the car door. Mickey Mouse remained motionless for now, apparently in shock at the sudden appearance of one of the superheroes.

_Great, what now? Eliminate the danger in the form of a pistol, or not let one of the suspects escape?_ He had only second to took barely a consider both options. He decided that the pistol wasn’t so dangerous and that he would give Donald's escape as a matter of priority. Using his net, he glued the car's rubber and part of the chassis to the road. Duck was already at the wheel, and stepped furiously on the gas, but it wasn't very valid. Peter wanted to pull him out of the car and tie him up, but before he could jump to him, several shots piercing the air. Aladdin started shooting at the superhero and everything gained a faster pace.

Spider-Man tried to dodge the bullets, but this time he failed. The shooter was quick and knew how to hit. He felt a stabbing pain in his right shoulder and left thigh and fell to the ground. It somehow woke up Mickey, who suddenly, for some incomprehensible reason, came to Aladdin and struck him several times. Aladdin dropped the Glock. They began to fight furiously. The car kept growling, its wheels sliding helplessly. The car kept growling, its wheels sliding helplessly. Peter tried to stand up and finish what he started, but he didn't succeed, the result was only faster blood loss and fatigue. Now he regretted wearing the light suit, with wasn't on his arms and legs bullet-resistant.

Suddenly, in the middle of that fight Mickey Mouse's mask fell from face and Peter's heart skipped a few beats. At the back of his throat, he felt the familiar bitter taste of betrayal and disappointment. Peter recognized the dirty blond hair and serious brown eyes. Alex Pleasure lunged to weapon at the ground, and then killed his accomplice in cold blood. At that moment, Donald gave up trying to drive away and decided that Spider-Man, Aladdin, and Alex were too busy with themselves, so he can run away on foot. That was fatal mistake, he ran into Pleasure's shooting trajectory.

It seemed unbelievable, but after Alex had committed double murder in front of Peter, he simply came up to him and tore his shirt just to bandage his wounds. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his phone. He called the police and then left without a word. Without even trying to unmask the superhero. Peter didn't know what he should think about it, but one thing was clear. He must disappear before the law enforcement officers appear on the scene. And so pushed by necessity, but with considerable self-denial, he managed to get up and make it to the promised Halloween party with Ned and MJ.

When he knocked on their door after an hour, they were both utterly frightened, both by his delay and by the condition in which he had gotten there. They healed him, fed him and let him rest. After two days, he was able to walk back to the college and pretend nothing had happened. The question, however, was how well he could pretend in front of Alex.


	7. Scars

#  **Scars**

“Where have you been?” Pleasure greeted him when he finally stood on the doorstep of their room. He had to remember in his mind that Alex had no idea of his secret identity, and if he wanted to arrest him, it should stay that way.

“I took some holiday. You know, Halloween parties, friends… You might as well try it someday,” he recited his prepared excuse.

The blonde said nothing, just looked at him with suspicion. It was clear, that he didn't believe the declaration very much, and Peter couldn't help comparing that his so-called friend was like a dangerous dog sniffing all around him. He preferred not to say anything more and just fell on the bed. His leg still hurt a lot. Alex returned to reading the book he had held before Peter burst into their room.

The wounded hero wanted to fall asleep, but despite the pain and stress, which was clearly due to the presence of the killer in the room, he didn't succeed. So he just lay there and stared at the wall before deciding to take shower. He got up, went into the bathroom, and he managed to get down in his shorts before slipping on the wet floor with a noise and a swearing. A moment later, the bathroom door opened and Alex's head peeked out from behind the half-open door.

“Are you all right?!” Pleasure exclaimed, and Peter wanted to say something about the decency of knocking, but Alex's eyes immediately landed on injured leg. He didn't move a single muscle in his face, and the hero allowed himself for a moment to hope that the killer in front of him hadn't associated his wounds with Spider-Man. However, Alex's next sentence quickly dashed that hope. “Why didn't you wait in that crime scene, the police and the ambulance were on their way?” _So much for secrecy and pretending!_

“Like you care!” the wounded hero snapped bitterly.

His roommate apparently ignored the hostility. He went into the bathroom and said: “But I really do,” he grabbed Peter's arm and shoulders to help him get back on his feet, despite Paker's protests. He sat him on the tub and reached into the cupboard above the sink for the first aid kit. “The bandage needs to be replaced.” He unpacked the first-aid kit and cut the blood-soaked cloth.

“Why are you acting like this? What you want?” Peter blurted out doubtfully. Whenever the villains knew his identity and were friendly to him anyway, it didn't bode well.

“Because despite what you think now, we are not enemies,” Pleasure said, disinfecting the wound.

“You killed two people in front of me,” Peter said, frowning at the memory.

“Drug dealers and arms dealers. One of those men shot you. I was trying to protect you,” Alex replied.

“I'm a superhero.”

“Which doesn't make you immortal or invulnerable. You'll have an ugly scar after that bullet,” the blond assessed his condition and began to bandage his leg with a clean bandage.

“It will not be a worse scar than the one you created,” Peter growled, still grumpy.

“I understand and I'm sorry,” Pleasure nodded and stopped bandaging his leg for a moment. “The scars on the soul are always the worst. However, if this helps, you should know some essential information. The two were Jacob Walker and Thomas Taylor, two prominent Oscorp scientists who either made money in the evenings through illegal activity, or the multinational company has ties to the New York mafia and the Green Goblin. As a CIA agent, I was supposed to trace them. We hoped that they would lead us to far larger fish. But when you showed up, it took me a while to decide about whether I would keep my cover or help you.” Alex finally imported Peter's leg, and the hero didn't miss the fact that the treatment was undertaken by his so-called friend with a skill that must have come from years of practice.

“Is that your game? I Should believe you're a spy,” the hero still doubted Pleasure's words.

“You don't have to trust me. I know it's difficult. But I'm sure Fury will know me.”


	8. Duty

#  **Duty**

Corridor in front of Dr. Connors's office was full of students, which stamping nervously, talking quietly to each other, feverishly flipping through the notes, hoping they they quickly engrave something in their memory. The exam period means a sea of stress, uncertainty and duties for students and cantors. This group of students was lucky; they were those who had already passed the written test. Nevertheless they still hadn't won; the final oral exam awaited them.

Peter Parker sat, like many others from the group of students, on the steps beside the cabinet door. He didn't look at the notes from the lectures, instead staring at his roommate standing by the wall opposite him. His mind wasn't preoccupied with biochemistry; he kept thinking his conversation with Fury. Although he confirmed Alex's cooperation with the CIA, he expressed some surprise that this particular man is still available. For some strange reason, boss S.H.I.E.L.D. had the impression that Pleasure, or Agent Rider, had already ended his espionage career. _“If I knew it wasn't so strict with his departure, I would definitely try to persuade him to come to us,”_ he said to the young superhero, but Peter wasn't sure if this information had particularly reassured him.

Door of Dr. Connors's office opened and Harry Osborn came out. All the classmates in the hallway gathered around him and began interrogation. “So what?” “What did he ask?” “Did you pass?” “In what mood is he, is he ok?” they overwhelmed him with questions.

The son of the famous businessman just shrugged. “Yeah, he's pretty nice, but I didn't pass. In sum, I'll have to go on the third try, or try a Jedi mind trick in the study department: _Credits will do fine_ ,” he waved, imitating a scene from a famous film series. Harry wasn't the right type of study. He was one of those who didn't care about school, but at least he seemed relaxed in a constantly good mood, and not succumbs to depression from failure. That was quite pleasant; on the other hand, it didn't particularly surprise anyone that the young Osborn had to take the test again.

“Such a trick would be useful at university,” brunet standing to the right three steps from Peter agreed with Harry.

“Yeah, or being able to read the mind like Scarlet Witch,” said one of the girls.

“Or the ability to make duplicates. It would be an incredibly good time saver, one self would learn, whiles the other watching a popular series,” meant another student.

“Superheroes have it very simple, they don't even realize it. They can solve half of things with their abilities,” brunet spoke again.

“I don't think so. Maybe the heroes have an easier normal life than us, on the other hand they have to face all those terrible criminals. If I had to face to Loki or Thanos, I would be fucked afraid,” Harry admitted with a laugh.

The discussion in the hallway was in friendly and unserious tone, but only until Alex spoke. The depth of his voice showed that he took the debate quite serious. No, I don't think people with abilities have a duty to help others and go against equally powerful criminals just because they can. They certainly have no greater duty than the rest of us. However, why not ask an expert?” Peter flicked a warning look at Pleasure, but the spy continued. The others blinked in confusion. “What can you tell us about this, Mr. Parker, a former employee and close friend of Tony Stark's?”

At that moment, everyone looked back at Peter in shock, and he just wanted to strangle his roommate. Maybe working for Stark Industries and getting to know Iron Man wasn't secret, but he didn't intend to spread it all over the university. However, he had to keep a cool head and calmly answer Alex's question.

“Mr. Stark wouldn't agree with you. He may have been a billionaire with a bohemian lifestyle, but he was also a man who sacrificed himself for others. Closing our eyes to the evil, which we are able to stop, is the same sin as approving these crimes. Logically, a person with supernatural powers can handle and has more potential to stop evil than an ordinary mortal. So with great power comes great responsibility.” _That's what you're thinking and why, according to Fury, you're retired. Do you think that you aren't responsible for what is happening around you!?_ Peter also wanted to add and discuss it with the spy. But now was not the time. Not in front of that line of witnesses.


End file.
